Machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies allow devices to communicate more directly with each other using wired and wireless communications systems. M2M technologies enable further realization of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Web of Things (WoT), a system of uniquely identifiable objects and virtual representations of such objects that communicate over a network, such as the Internet. IoT/WoT may facilitate communication with even mundane everyday objects, such as products in a grocery store, and thereby reduce costs and waste by improving knowledge of such objects. For example, stores may maintain very precise inventory data by being able to communicate with, or obtain data from, objects that may be in inventory or may have been sold.
Today's more powerful user devices are able to host and provide services via M2M technologies that in the past were hosted and provided by service providers using proprietary systems. However, for end user devices to successfully offer services for other devices, M2M technologies will need improved location management and privacy control.